At The End of the Day
by Dukefan1982
Summary: What Brennan comes home to at the end of the day


A/N: I am in the mood for some B&B baby goodness so I came up with this. One shot:

It had been a long day and Doctor Temperance Brennan couldn't wait to get home and relax. Brennan pulled into her driveway and let out a sigh she was finally home. Shouldering her bag Brennan walked up the sidewalk, she smiled as she went up the stairs, her and Booth's 16 month old son, Liam standing at glass storm door, with his face smashed into the glass waiting on her.

Brennan cracked the door open a little, afraid that the baby was leaning on the door and would fall forward if she open it too quickly, thankfully Liam leaned back as she opened the door. "Momma." Liam grinned as Brennan came in and held his arms up and gave her a toothy grin.

"Hi Sweetheart." Brennan took off her coat and put it along with her bag on the coat tree then picked up Liam and walked in to the kitchen.

"Hey bud I see you found mommy, good job!" Liam smiled at his father.

"Booth you shouldn't have let Liam do that, he's still sick and it's cold out plus the door is drafty. His hands and cheeks are like ice!"Brennan rubbed Liam's tiny hands in her own trying to warm them.

"Bones, Liam is fine, I didn't let him stand there that long, you were two houses away when I opened the door. I had to do it Bones; he looked for you all day he's not used to you being gone all day. "

Brennan smiled; Liam seemed to be okay he smelled a little like vapor rub and baby still dressed in his footed pajamas from last night."I'm not used to it either. How was he otherwise?"

"Fine he slept a lot this morning and ate a pretty good lunch. He didn't like getting the drops put in his ear but who does? He doesn't seem to be coughing as much as yesterday. How was the lecture?"

"Long, about an hour into the first session two attendee's got in a fight; I had to call security to remove them. Then the first session after lunch we had to evacuate due to a small fire in the chem lab that filled the hallways with smoke."

"You're okay right?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired, I smell a little like a BBQ, and I missed my little boy a little too much." Brennan kissed Liam's cheek, making the baby laugh.

Booth smiled, "Bones, you can't love your kids too much and you cannot love them too much either. Why don't you give me Liam and go change while I go make dinner- pancakes or omelets, your choice."

"They both sound good, but I really want a veggie omelet." Brennan handed Liam to Booth and was met with a scream, "I guess somebody wants mommy."Booth tried to sooth Liam, but he wasn't having any of it.

"Yeah, come on baby." Brennan took Liam and went down the hall. She entered the bedroom and sat Liam in the play yard in the corner. "I'll hurry and then I'm yours for the rest of the night."Brennan grabbed some sweatpants and a shirt then changed in the walk-in closet. Liam voiced his displeasure as he watched Brennan disappear into the closet. "Liam, I'm right here. " Brennan stepped out of the closet and scooped Liam up, not sure if is tears were due to him missing her, the fact that he didn't feel good or both. "Come on; let's go see if daddy has dinner ready." By the time they got to the kitchen Liam was settled down and Booth had dinner on plates, a veggie omelet for Brennan, veggie with ham for Booth and a plain scrambled egg for Liam. Brennan put Liam in his highchair and handed him a spoon. They ate quietly for a few minutes, Brennan smiling at Liam dropping the egg off of his spoon for the third time then going after it with his fingers, the spoon forgotten. Once she was done Brennan turned her attention to Liam, surprised to find that the actually had ate a third of the egg by himself, Brennan fed him a few more bites. "Liam, how did you get egg in your hair? I bet it's in your pj's too, bath time for you." Liam laughed at Brennan's dancing phalanges

Forty minutes later Brennan sat in the rocker holding an unhappy Liam and was keeping his hands from knocking into Booth's while he put the antibiotic drops in his ear. "I know you don't like it bud but I promise it'll make you feel better. There I'm all done."

Booth kissed Liam's head and returned a few minutes later with a warm baby blanket fresh from the dryer that he draped over Liam, the baby relaxed deeper into Brennan.

"Hopefully the blanket will soothe him and help him sleep. I used one after you left and he slept for three hours straight."

Brennan kissed the top of Liam's head and pulled the blanket higher up on him. "If he'd just sleep without fighting it, he'd feel better."

"I know, Parker was worse that's when I started using the warm blankets. He wouldn't sleep without one when he got sick until he was six; I still give him one sometimes if he gets really sick."

"If it works I'll get him one every night if I have too." Booth smiled slightly as Brennan rocked Liam. Twenty minutes later Brennan laid Liam wrapped in the blanket in his crib and went to her office to sort through her mail and add diapers and wipes to the growing grocery list. Hours later Booth took Brennan's hand as she climbed into bed, and turned on the baby monitor, Liam's stuffy snores filled the room. Booth knew something was bothering Brennan,"Bones, what's wrong?"

"I can't go back to working full time next month. I was all set to go back then I came home and saw Liam's little face smashed in the door and how happy he got when he saw it was me and I can't go back! This is your fault!"

Booth laughed, "Bones, it's fine if you can't go back, you can stay home with Liam as long as you want. We're lucky we are not financially dependent on both of us working."

"I know, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. I was suppose to take six weeks off, then do six weeks in the lab and then go in the field again. Not take my six weeks then go back to the lab two days a week unless we have a case."

"Bones none of that stuff matters, all that matters is that you and Liam are happy, you're happy aren't you?"

"Yes, to be honest I've enjoyed the last 16 months more than I thought I would."

"That's good. Liam is happy you're home too; I think he was annoyed you weren't here when he woke up this morning. When I got him up, he looked at me like 'why are you here?'"

Brennan chuckled, "I missed getting him up too, but I have to admit it was nice to get up and just have to get myself ready and go. Does that make me a bad mom?"

"No, that's completely normal. Talk to Cam when you go in next week, I'm sure she'll be fine with you still working part time or maybe add a day. Go work Monday, Wednesday and Fridays or something."

"Maybe, three days wouldn't be so bad, but I think working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would be better. That way it's a four day weekend and I can spend time with Parker too."

"Sounds good Bones, let's get some sleep." Brennan turned and snuggled into Booth and quickly fell asleep.

By the time Monday rolled around Liam was his normal happy self and Brennan packed up his diaper bag and headed to the lab. The two days Brennan was at the lab Liam went with her and played in his play yard that took up a third of the floor. When Brennan first started working after Liam was born he stayed home with a babysitter. That lasted for three days then Brennan had enough of being away from Liam and got a portable crib and put him in the corner of her office. He adapted well to being in Brennan's office and everyone adapted to having Liam in the lab. Angela and surprisingly Cam babysat him if Brennan needed to leave the lab. Brennan unbundled Liam and headed to Cam's office. Cam looked up before Brennan could knock; she had heard Liam's giggles as Brennan played 'peak-a-boo' with his stuffed dog.

"Good morning Brennan, Liam."

"Good morning Cam, I would like to talk to you about my return to work."

"Yes."

"I know I said that I would come back at the beginning of the year, but I find that I'm not ready. I know-"

Cam smiled,"Brennan, don't worry about it, come back whenever you are ready. When you extended your leave last time the board came to me and told me that you can come back on your own timetable that they'd work with you."

"Really?"

"Yes, Brennan, you are the Medical legal lab. Our lab brings in at least 85% of the museum's revenue. If you told them you only wanted to work the first and third Thursday's every month they'd let you."

"About that, I'd like to add a third day. I want to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I can have a four day weekends to spend time with Liam and Parker."

"Sounds great. Now let me spend time with my nephew while you go tell Angela."

"Liam do you want to go see Cam?"

Liam shook his head and snuggled into Brennan's shoulder.

"I have graham crackers…"

"Oooh, Liam Cam has graham crackers, what do you think now?"

Liam held his arms out and Brennan kissed his head and passed him over the desk. Cam settled Liam on her lap with a graham cracker and went back to her paperwork. Brennan headed to Angela's office.

"Hey Sweetie, where's Liam?"

"He's with Cam; she bribed him with graham crackers."

Angela smiled, "She totally stole those from me. I keep them here for Katie. So you ready to come back?"

"I'm not coming back; at least not fulltime. Not yet anyway, I can't leave him, I was ready then last week when I came home from the lecture , I went up the sidewalk Liam was waiting with his face smashed up against the storm door in his little footy pajamas and I- I don't know… melted or something…"

"Oh sweetie I was like that with Michael, I extended my time and 14 months later we had Katie. With her I was ready to come back after a month. Between Michael getting into everything and Katie not sleeping, I needed the quiet of this place! You're not going to have another one are you?"

"Not anytime soon."Brennan smiled and went to her office to work in limbo and do some paperwork.

By the time Brennan went back to the lab shortly before Liam's third birthday, he was in preschool four days a week and didn't miss being home with Brennan all that much.


End file.
